A11
B USINESS
THE BULLETIN • WEDNESDAY, APRIL 21, 2021
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BRIEFING
PDX getting direct
flight to Seoul
Delta Air Lines said
Tuesday that it will add a
direct flight to South Ko-
rea from Portland Interna-
tional Airport and restore
a flight to New York City.
Delta’s new flight to
Seoul is PDX’s first direct
flight to that city since
1999. The new flight be-
gins Sept. 9.
On May 28, Delta will
begin flying daily be-
tween Portland and John
F. Kennedy International
Airport in New York. Cur-
rently, JetBlue has red-
eye flights to JFK twice
a week. Alaska Airlines
plans to resume flights to
JFK on July 2.
Sun Country Airlines
has restored service from
Portland to Minneapolis,
and Condor Airlines will
resume flying from PDX
to Frankfurt, Germany, on
May 21. Icelandair will re-
sume flying in and out of
Portland on July 2.
In some cases, airlines
are planning flights to
foreign destinations that
don’t currently allow most
travel from the United
States. But hopes are ris-
ing that travel restrictions
will ease in the coming
weeks.
Nike, Kobe’s estate
end partnership
Nike’s endorsement
contract with the Kobe
Bryant estate was not re-
newed, and its longtime
partnership with the late
basketball superstar has
ended, the company said
in a statement Monday.
“Kobe Bryant was an
important part of Nike’s
deep connection to con-
sumers. He pushed us and
made everyone around
him better. Though our
contractual relationship
has ended, he remains a
deeply loved member of
the Nike family.”
The decision was made
by Vanessa Bryant and the
Kobe Bryant estate after
his post-retirement con-
tract expired on April 13,
ending a nearly 20-year
relationship.
Bryant originally
signed with Nike in 2003
after starting his profes-
sional endorsement ca-
reer with Adidas in 1996.
Nike released more than a
dozen signature sneakers
and continued to release
shoes for Bryant following
his retirement in 2016.
Netflix’s subscriber
growth slows
Netflix’s rapid sub-
scriber growth is slowing
faster than anticipated as
people who have been
stuck at home during the
pandemic are able to get
out and do other things.
The video-streaming
service added 4 million
more worldwide subscrib-
ers from January through
March, its smallest gain
during that three-month
period in four years.
The performance
reported Tuesday was
about 2 million fewer
subscribers than both
management and ana-
lysts had predicted Netflix
would add during the first
quarter.
It marked a huge
comedown from the
same time last year when
Netflix added nearly 16
million subscribers. That
came just as govern-
ments around the world
imposed lockdowns that
created a huge captive
audience for the leading
video-streaming ser-
vice. Netflix forecast an
increase of just 1 million
worldwide subscribers
in its current April-June
period, down from an in-
crease of 10 million sub-
scribers at the same time
last year.
— Bulletin wire reports
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CENTRAL OREGON EMPLOYMENT
Region could reach full job recovery by June
BY SUZANNE ROIG
The Bulletin
While Central Oregon was
in the moderate risk cate-
gory for the transmission of
COVID-19, the employment
recovery was extraordinary, ac-
cording to the March state em-
ployment report.
The job gains are so signif-
icant that all three counties in
Central Oregon could come
close to full job recovery by
this summer, said Damon
Runberg, Oregon Employment
Department regional econo-
mist.
“I was shocked when I saw
the numbers. It was a phenom-
enal month,” Runberg said.
“When we’re seeing such mas-
sive gains like this, you have
to remember that we’ll be that
much closer to be fully recov-
ered.
“At the pace of job recovery
we see now, we’ll be fully re-
covered by June. I think it’s be-
cause of the combination of the
nice weather and businesses
can expand to legitimate out-
door dining. People are out.”
The seasonally adjusted
unemployment rate in De-
schutes County dropped to
6.6% , down from 6.8% in Feb-
ruary, but higher than it was
pre-pandemic shutdown in
March 2020, when it was 3.3%,
according to the employment
report.
The county added 1,880
jobs since February, the larg-
est gain since last summer
when the county added 2,760
jobs in July, the report stated.
Most of those jobs were in the
leisure and hospitality indus-
try, as many restaurants and
bars opened for indoor dining
when the county moved to the
moderate risk level on March
12. It allows for 50% capacity
indoors.
Deschutes County was
moved back to high risk, which
limits indoor dining to 25% ca-
pacity on April 9.
In Jefferson County, the sea-
sonally adjusted unemploy-
ment rate dropped just slightly
to 6.8% in March compared
to 6.9% in February, but it was
still higher than March of 2020
when it was 4.2% , according to
the report.
Only 40 jobs were added
to Jefferson County in March,
a slower pace than neighbor-
ing counties, the report states.
However, despite the slower
pace of recovery, the county is
the closest in Central Oregon
to recovering all the jobs lost
due to COVID-19 business
shutdowns designed to contain
the virus.
In Crook County, the
seasonally adjusted unem-
ployment rate dropped dra-
matically in March to 7.3%
compared to 7.9% in February,
but it was still higher than the
same time the year before, the
report states.
About 120 jobs were added
in March, the second highest
in the current recovery phase .
Reporter: 541-633-2117,
sroig@bendbulletin.com
loves its boba tea
Boba tea drinks available at
5 Flavor Cafe in Portland on
April 2. Mark Graves/The Oregonian
More than 30 shops serving the Taiwanese drink have opened in 3 years
BY JAIMIE DING
The Oregonian
W
hen Portland’s earliest known
boba tea shop, Tea Chai Te,
opened in December 2003, store
owners Angela and Dominic
Valdes watched many of their customers expe-
rience the drink for the first time.
The couple first encountered the Taiwanese
beverage themselves in 2002 at a Seattle boba
shop. Angela Valdes said they spent the first
few years “explaining to customers” how to en-
joy the drink.
“From popping open the drink with a big
brightly colored straw to having tapioca pearls
and coconut jellies in the bottom, (there) was
Beth Nakamura/The Oregonian
Tiki Tea PDX in Portland’s Alberta neighborhood
offers several boba teas, other drinks and desserts.
something new and exciting for everyone,” she
said.
The drink that originated in Taiwan has ex-
ploded into U.S. markets, bringing a wave of
boba shops to Portland.
Boba tea, or just boba for short, is generally
a sweetened milk tea with black, chewy tapioca
pearls at the bottom that you suck up through
fat straws. The pearls are made from the starch
of the cassava root, a tuber also known as yuca,
native to South America.
There are competing stories for who exactly
invented the drink, but many say it originated
in Taiwan in the 1980s at the Chun Shui Tang
teahouse.
See Boba tea / A12
Apple unveils new products, Some Oregon jobless
schedules privacy crackdown benefits delayed by
website troubles
BY MICHAEL LIEDTKE
The Associated Press
SAN RAMON, Calif. —
Apple spruced up its product
line at an event Tuesday while
slipping in quiet notice of a
software update, now due next
week, designed to enhance the
privacy of iPhone users at the
expense of digital advertisers
such as Facebook.
Timing for the software up-
grade trickled out during a se-
ries of announcements for new
iPads, iMac computers and
more during a pre-recorded
event that sometimes seemed
like a one-hour infomercial for
Apple.
Apple also unveiled a gad-
get called AirTags — coin-
sized devices that can be at-
tached to keys, backpacks,
purses and other items to help
people track them down via
BY MIKE ROGOWAY
The Oregonian
Jae C. Hong/AP
In this illustration photographed in La Habra, California, the new
iMac computers are introduced during a virtual event held Tuesday.
iPhone if they’re misplaced.
The AirTags, due in stores
April 30, will require the iPhone
software update called iOS 14.5.
That update will also include a
new feature requiring apps to
obtain explicit permission from
users before tracking their ac-
tivity and whereabouts. Apple
said in a footnote to its AirTags
announcement that the update
will be released at some point
next week.
See Apple / A12
Thousands of self-employed
Oregonians have been unable
to file their weekly benefits
claims because of ongoing is-
sues with the state’s website.
Issues cropped up over the
weekend, the Oregon Em-
ployment Department said
on Twitter. They affect people
seeking to file claims for Pan-
demic Unemployment Assis-
tance, a new class of benefits
Congress created last year for
self-employed workers and
contractors.
Unemployed workers typ-
ically must file claims every
week to continue receiving
benefits. The department said
Monday that the website had
“several issues” over the week-
end, describing “slow load
times, lack of confirmation
emails, and more.”
Initially the department said
it hoped to resolve the issue
early Monday. But the depart-
ment tweeted Tuesday that
problems were continuing and
offered no timeline for resolv-
ing them.
“We anticipate payments
will be delayed this week. You
do not need to resubmit your
certification,” the department
tweeted Monday. “We apolo-
gize for any inconvenience.”
Oregon has been among the
slowest states in the nation at
paying jobless claims during
the pandemic.
See Benefits / A12